Failure
by Enhas
Summary: What if Morgana had known of Merlin's plan?  Dark!Merlin, AU to It Keeps Getting Easier.
1. The Fall of Merlin

Note: This is an AU taking place after the first few episodes of Series 3, and thus there are some spoilers for that. Actually, it's an AU of an AU, to my other story _It Keeps Getting Easier_, so that probably should be read first.

The first few lines are exactly the same, but with a much different outcome.

* * *

Nightmare after nightmare plagued Merlin, and he had not slept well for weeks. In every single one of them, Morgana ended up killing Uther, Arthur or both. He had no idea whether they were predictions of what was to come or not, but either way he had to take the initiative before it was too late.

_You've done terrible things before,_ he thought to himself, _but it keeps getting easier. Everything you've done was for Arthur, and if anyone gets in his way they must be destroyed. The Dragon was right, he's always right._

As he neared her room, he trembled so much that he had to stop for a moment and breathe heavily. Luckily, nobody was around to see his out-of-character behavior, or for what he was about to do.

_There's no other way._

His face hardened, and he became deathly calm, fully resolved in his decision.

Merlin forced her door open, and very unexpectedly, Morgana was directly in front of him. He was stunned for a moment, and only a moment was required for her to mutter an incantation.

He fell to the floor, unable to move or do much of anything else. Morgana then moved in close and slapped him in the face, hard.

"Did you really _think_ that you could outwit me, Merlin? By some providence I didn't sleep last night with the comfort of my bracelet, and do you want to know what I saw, what I dreamed? My own _death_. I thought it may have simply been a nightmare, seeing as you used magic against me, but I wanted to make sure. And then you barged your way in here exactly as was foretold!"

Merlin could feel her magic pressing against him from all sides, binding him. He had to escape quickly and continue with his plan, there was absolutely no going back now since Morgana knew about his magic. If she left her room alive, it would all be over.

He realized that Morgana used the _exact _same paralyzing spell that he had planned to use. She was telling the truth, and she really _did_ dream of what he was going to do with her.

"How does it feel to be the helpless one, Merlin? Though it was only a nightmare, I felt every single thing you did to me up to the point where you stopped my heart from beating! I could make _your_ heart stop, but no. Arthur will be here soon, I'd requested him to be after I decided to go through with this test, and I will let him know just exactly who and what you are!"

Morgana then used magic on herself to apply horrid-looking bruises upon her face and upper chest. "He will never believe you over me. After all, you are just a servant and I am of noble blood. You are absolutely _nothing_ compared to me!"

Merlin _had_ to get free, and quickly. Everything had gone wrong.

_Wait, she doesn't know that I can move objects with my mind without incantations! I hope this works..._

Morgana continued to gloat about how he was going to die slowly and very painfully by the order of Uther, but Merlin wasn't listening. His eyes were on an empty vase, the very same vase that once held flowers he gave to her within.

_Just as empty as the hope I had that Morgana could be saved..._

With one quick thrust of his innate magic, it flew across the room and shattered into the back of Morgana's head. She fell, face down. Immediately, Merlin felt the effect of her spell leave him and he quickly moved over to check on her.

Several shards of the broken vase were embedded deeply within her head. He checked for a pulse, and there was none.

_No! She wasn't supposed to die this way..._

Morgana was dead, and with it his plan, for at that very moment he felt a sharp sword pressed against his neck. He had completely forgotten that the door to Morgana's room wasn't shut, and about Arthur!

"Earlier today, she said to me that you couldn't be trusted and that you would try and murder her. I argued with her, of course, that you were my _friend_ and that she was delusional. But now, I can see that she was right about everything. If I had only been here even a moment sooner, she might have lived!"

"Arthur, I..."

"Do not say _anything_ to me, and if you so much as move out of order even slightly I will remove your head. Now, stand and turn around... very slowly."

Merlin knew that his life and destiny was over, for even in death Morgana had won. He had underestimated her severely, and due to his foolishness he knew that Arthur and Camelot were doomed to fall as a result. Perhaps quite soon, when word came to Morgause of what transpired, for she would surely seek vengeance.

To anyone that viewed Morgana's battered body, it appeared as if Merlin beat her severely before finishing her off with a crushing blow to her head, and the fact that one of her breasts was also bruised painted a picture that he had attempted to defile her before he killed her.

It was as if the world conspired against Merlin, for he knew that Arthur wouldn't believe him. Nobody would. Gwen, normally being a kindhearted and cheerful woman, personally requested to Arthur that she be the one to light his pyre ablaze, who in turn asked it of his father. The King agreed without hesitation.

There was no point in trying to escape, or indeed even living anymore. Arthur would never trust him again, nor would anybody else in Camelot.

He had failed. But as he was in the throne room, bloody and broken from repeated beatings, with Uther officially pronouncing a death sentence on him over his crime of murder, he realized something quite fascinating about his whole situation.

Merlin couldn't help himself. He broke into a creepy, eerie laughter that brought a chill to all present, even the King.

_After all this, they still didn't figure out that I was a sorcerer!_


	2. Alternate Ending: The Rise of Merlin

Note: This is an AU taking place after the first few episodes of Series 3, and thus there are some spoilers for that. Actually, it's an AU of an AU, to my other story _It Keeps Getting Easier_, so that probably should be read first.

This alternate ending is something that I just _had_ to write. It takes place not long after Arthur arrests Merlin, but before his sentencing. Merlin goes into full-blown darkness here (compared to my other stories, where he at least had remorse and guilt over what he has done), so be warned.

* * *

Merlin, completely defeated and having nothing else to do, took to counting the number of bricks in his cell for the sixteenth time that hour. He had been there before several times under different circumstances (so much that Arthur had teased him that there should be a sign hanged above it labelling it as Merlin's), but never like this.

He was a murderer.

While no official judgement had yet been handed down by the King, it was only a matter of time. Arthur had caught him in the very act. One by one, everyone who had known and trusted him visited him to turn their backs on him and to express their hatred and disgust.

Nobody stood by him. It wasn't as if anyone really could anyway, because he _was_ actually guilty of his crime, and he should die.

Merlin knew that Morgause would likely attack in a matter of days, after his execution. He had been resigned to the fact that everything he had worked for since he moved to Camelot was gone, and everyone else would also be sentenced to death as well, all because Morgana had Seen the future and outsmarted him. She had been two steps ahead the entire time, and he never had a chance.

But what if he could salvage things, somehow?

A very terrible thought entered Merlin's mind. He knew that, if he acted on it, he would become the very thing he'd been fighting against. He would be no better than Nimueh, Morgause, or any other number of evil sorcerers and sorceresses that conspired to bring Camelot to ruin.

Another person entered the jail. _Probably some other admirer of Morgana coming to tell me how much they hope I suffer._

With tired, blinking eyes, he looked up and saw none other than Uther Pendragon on the other side of the bars. Two guards flanked him, one at each side.

"Leave us."

Merlin knew that the King would probably come to see him, but he wouldn't expect there to be many words between them. No, Uther had likely gone there only to beat him to the brink of death, to make his suffering all the more painful before the end. Some of his visitors, not to mention the guards, had already done a fine job. But he knew that was going to be _nothing_ compared to what he was about to face.

The removal of his gloves, and the cracking of his knuckles, confirmed his suspicions.

Despite all of this, Merlin had taken note of one critical fact: They were alone!

_Nobody knows I'm a sorcerer! Well, except Gaius, but I think even now he still wouldn't have said anything because he'd clearly be implicated as harboring me all this time._

Uther had dismissed him as no threat by ordering his guards away, which would be his very undoing.

Merlin made his decision. He glared directly into the eyes of the King as he opened the door, his own flashing gold, a darker shade than it had ever been before, and smiled.

* * *

"The boy is to be released from custody immediately. The matter is closed."

"But Father, he did it! He killed your _ward_, and all signs point that he tried to rape her as well!"

Arthur slammed his fist on the table. It had been only a day ago that he had lost two of his best friends, one to murder and the other to madness. He wasn't about to lose his father to the latter.

"I spoke to him within his cell. He was beyond pathetic, pleading and crying that he had proof that things weren't as they seemed. I had to give him the benefit of the doubt, seeing as he has shown great loyalty to you, myself and this kingdom. He was correct. Arthur, as hard as it may be for me to say this... but Morgana was a sorceress, right under our very noses."

To say the least, Arthur was stunned, but said nothing. He decided to sit down in a chair nearest his father, and waited for him to continue.

"Merlin had discovered this, so she needed to eliminate him and so devised a plan. But he fought back and she was killed instead of him, it was a matter of self-defense."

"But that doesn't explain some of her bruises. _Those_ definitely weren't done by one fighting for his life." said Arthur.

"No, you are correct. She used a spell upon herself to deceive you, knowing you would soon be in her presence. I still didn't believe Merlin, and needed absolute proof of her sorcery to verify his claims."

He reached into his coat, dropping something on the table with a light clang. It was a bracelet.

"This was found in Morgana's room at Merlin's word. I have had Gaius look over and test it and it is indeed a magical object, one which will later be destroyed if possible, or if not safely locked away deep within the vaults of Camelot. Morgana has played all of us for _fools_, Arthur. Your servant also confessed to me that she was responsible for recently attacking Camelot and also nearly killing me, and that she would have killed him if he breathed a word of it to anyone. He is to be commended for his actions, and we nearly made a grave mistake. Tomorrow, I will publicly announce his service at defending this kingdom, and will also make him a freeman. I have ignored his advice for far too long at my own peril."

Arthur really didn't know what to think, so much flooded his mind at the King's statements. The person he had thought to be his sister had been an illusion, much like the Lady Catrina had been, and Merlin had revealed this nearly at the cost of his own life.

And he didn't believe Merlin. He _should_ have, after everything they had been through and experienced together. But he betrayed him, and he didn't know if the trust they once shared could be renewed.

_I'm so sorry, Merlin. I can only hope that you will forgive me, and that I will have the courage to ask it of you._

_

* * *

_

Merlin knew that things could never truly go back to the way they were, but he didn't want them to.

_Everything is better, now._

Arthur had forgiven him. Gwen had forgiven him. Gaius had forgiven him. _All_ had forgiven him, and praised his bravery at foiling what could have been the destruction of Camelot if he had failed. Morgause's revenge plan ended in her death by Kilgharrah's flaming breath, having lured her safely away from Camelot into a trap.

He was no longer a servant, but an advisor to both Prince and King.

Exactly as he had planned for it to be.

He knew that the dark decision he made on the eve of his execution was the right one, for Arthur and all of Albion, but most importantly for _himself_. Because of it, the King had come around to his line of thinking so to speak, and eventually had begun to show mercy against those practicing magic. Morgana's death had changed Uther Pendragon in more ways than one, and the people weren't complaining.

Having no other choice, Merlin did to _him_ what he had planned to do to Morgana, having easily succeeded at what so many others had tried to do and failed.

Merlin killed the King, the very moment he opened his cell door, and became his puppet-master using the same spells that were to be used on Morgana's body until things had gone awry. He said what Merlin wanted, he did what Merlin wanted.

Since Morgana's situation was only meant to be temporary, he needed to greatly modify his plan to include different and far more advanced spells so none would notice the truth. He visited and destroyed many unsavory folk to find them, but over time everything came together flawlessly. Nobody knew that Uther was not alive, or even suspected it.

Years later, once Arthur was deemed by Merlin to be fit for the throne and ready to unite all Albion, he disposed of the King in a supposed illness of which there was no recovery. The man had truly died over three years before and was long overdue to be entombed, and Merlin was definitely not sad to see him go, for it was finally Arthur's time to reign.

When one door closes, sometimes another opens though it might not lead where you want to go. Merlin understood this, but paid for it with his soul.

He was a failure in every way that counted.


End file.
